Unpacking the Game: Packers vs Chiefs

The Packers wrapped up their preseason with a 10-17 loss on Thursday night — they finished with a 1-2 record. There was a chance with a few minutes left in the fourth quarter when third-string quarterback, Danny Etling, had a chance for a game-tying touchdown. The drive saw RB Patrick Taylor rush four times for 25 yards and also have one reception for 5 yards. On 4th and 3, Etling threw a beautiful pass down the middle of the field intended for WR Samori Toure who was met early by the defender, but no defensive pass interference was called. As a result, the Chiefs were awarded possession of the ball and the game ended after a kneel down.

Going into the game, Coach LaFleur disclosed that there are eight roster spots available. Through the three preseason games, hopefully the organization and coaches gathered enough information to make well-informed decisions about cutting down to the 53 player roster, which must be completed by Tuesday at 3pm. With that said, let's unpack what they may have taken away from tonight's final preseason game!

QB

Jordan Love played nearly three full quarters of the game. Love looked a bit unsettled in the first drive and repeatedly fed the ball to RB Tyler Goodson. He had two rushes for eight yards and had a reception on third down in which he was stopped in his tracks. This forced a quick three and out and the Packers were forced to punt. The second offensive drive was eerily similar. Goodson rushed for one yard, Love had to scramble to avoid getting sacked and somehow managed to get back to the line of scrimmage, and then with strong pressure in the pocket, Love had an incomplete pass to TE Josiah Deguara on third down. This drive also ended in a fourth down punt. Rinse and repeat.

It was not until after the Chiefs scored on a 44 yard field goal that the Packers offense began clicking and putting consecutive positive plays together. Love still relied heavily on Goodson, who began to find open holes in the defense. Other than some screen passes to Goodson, Love had not targeted anyone else. He then went to WR Romeo Dobbs twice, who secured both catches for 13 yards. This was followed up by a beautiful 24 yard TD run by Goodson, who made a nice move at the 5 yard line to make a player miss and propel himself into the end zone. At this point, the score was 7-3, Packers on top.

Unfortunately, the Chiefs responded with a 54-yard TD to TE Matt Bushman on a broken play. However, the offense was able to respond and continue to build off of the momentum from the previous series. On his fourth drive of the night, Love looked far more poised and decisive with his throws. He had a nice throw to WR Samori Toure for 19 yards before hitting WR Amari Rodgers for 15 yards. After a few run plays that resulted in another first down, Love threw to Toure who was able to run the ball down to the Chiefs' one yard line. The rest of the drive stalled out due to mental mistakes and penalties (more on that later) before K Ramiz Ahmed kicked a 23 yard field goal to even up the score, 10-10.

After a quick three and out by the defense, Love and the offense got the ball back with less than one minute in the first half. The offense was moving the ball well down the field before Love tried a deep shot which was intercepted by Chiefs' safety Bryan Cook. Despite being an overall disappointing drive and end of half for the offense, it did offer some nice glimpses into Love's development and progression. There is definitely a comfort that comes with experience and live game snaps — there is absolutely no substitute for that. Love finished the first half completing 13 of 21 passes for 125 yards, 0 TDs, and 1 INT.

📷 Evan Siegle | Packers.com

The second half opened up with Love still at the helm as QB. All of his production came in the first series of the half. Love completed three of four passes for 23 yards before the series ended with an incomplete pass on third down to WR Juwann Winfree. He played through nearly all of the third quarter before backup QB Danny Etling entered the game. Love finished the game with a stat line of 16-26 for 148 yards, 0 TDs, and 1 INT. That was the extent of his preseason snaps, finishing 41-74 for 437 yards, 3 TDs, and 4 INT. As I have stated before, purely examining the statistics does not paint an accurate picture of Jordan Love's development. During the in-game sideline interviews, QB Aaron Rodgers was asked about this. He commented on how Love is better understanding the footwork and arm angles to make accurate throws. He stated that he has come along way in this area, while also giving credit to QB coach Tom Clements for helping him in these areas earlier on in his own career. As beneficial as it has been for Rodgers to have Clements coaching him, I am excited to see the ways in which he will help Love flourish as well.

RB

This was a position to watch that potentially has an open roster spot going into cutdown day. Both Tyler Goodson and Patrick Taylor made their cases known. Goodson looked decisive with his cuts and elusive once the ball was in his hands. He finished the night with 7 rushes for 28 yards and one touchdown, while also catching five passes for 26 yards.

📷 Evan Siegle | Packers.com

Taylor had 34 yards rushing on 7 carries and secured three catches for 17 yards. There have been arguments that the Packers should keep 3 RBs (they have more often than not), however, there is also reason to believe that the organization will choose to only keep two. After all, Kylin Hill is on the PUP list and was last year's player to occupy the spot. In recent days, LaFleur has made it clear that with the expanded practice squad (16 players) and the 53-man roster, the team is looking to keep the best 69 players. It is quite possible that the Packers will elect to cut either Goodson or Taylor in hopes that they will not be claimed and can later resign to the team's practice squad. If the team feels that either player will not clear the waiver wire, they will then need to sign them to the initial roster.

WR

On the whole, it was a fairly quiet night for the receivers who combined to catch 15 catches for 158 yards. The receivers who did stand out tonight were Amari Rodgers and Samori Toure. Rodgers had four catches for 39 yards, but also made an impact in the run game. After lining up in the backfield during practice earlier in the week, Rodgers ran a few jet sweeps. In the run game, he contributed 17 yards on only three rushes. Where he excelled was on converting for first downs — he had three. Meanwhile, Toure led both teams in receptions and yardage, finishing with six receptions for 83 yards. He nearly had a TD in the second quarter but was tackled on the one yard line.

📷 Evan Siegle | Packers.com

Rodgers is a roster lock while Toure is firmly on the roster bubble. He led all Packers receivers in receiving yards this preseason with 125 yards. Will he follow in Malik Taylor's footsteps from last year and make the roster? That has yet to be seen. Like I mentioned with the running backs, it is quite possible that the team keeps anywhere between six-eight receivers. Again, it will entirely depend on whom the organization feels will clear the waiver wire.

TE

I will keep this section brief. Tyler Davis did not have any major blunders, so that was welcome after how the first two preseason games went. The team is intent on keeping him for his role in pass protection and on special teams. He had one bad pass pro rep, almost had a TD catch (would have been overturned by a penalty anyway), and managed to log one catch for 16 yards. Former USFL player Sal Cannella continued to impress. He only had two receptions, but had just as many forced missed tackles. This is the second week in a row that he has been able to do that on limited snaps. He also drew a DPI call late in the game that extended a drive in Chiefs' territory. TEs Alize Mack and Nate Becker were both injured in the game and did not return. Mack suffered a hamstring injury and Becker appeared to have suffered an ankle injury after some bad footing while engaging a block. It is difficult to think that the Packers will not keep one of Becker or Mack on the PS, if they do not claim another TE via the waiver wire.

OL

The O-line was the only team unit — other than special teams and ILB Quay Walker — that played the starters. The personnel grouping to start the game was Yosh Nijman, Jon Runyan Jr., Josh Myers, Jake Hanson, and Royce Newman. Although some pressures were allowed early in the game, no sacks were allowed by the starting unit. Early in the second quarter, there was some shuffling along the line. Zach Tom played left guard, Hanson moved over to center, Newman slid over to right guard, and Rasheed Walker played right tackle.

📷 Evan Siegle | Packers.com

By the third quarter, Caleb Jones was in at left tackle, Sean Rhyan at right guard and Newman slid back over to right tackle. The game ended with the O-line only allowing two sacks — both on Danny Etling. This will be another position to watch as the team pares down the roster. Will the team keep eight, nine, or perhaps a different number of O-line players?

DL

The defensive line is arguably the deepest unit on the entire team. Every time that I feel like I remotely think that I might possibly know what the Packers will decide to do on Tuesday, something changes my mind. Tonight, Chris Slayton and Jack Heflin were the catalysts. Both players showcased their ability to make an impact in the run game. Slayton was only credited with two tackles, but he showed good gap integrity and also collapsed the pocket at times. Heflin had five total tackles, had an unblocked TFL on fourth down, and forced a fumble which the Chiefs maintained possession of.

📷 Evan Siegle | Packers.com

Heflin was able to sneak onto the roster last year as an UDFA. Yet again, this will be an unpredictable position to track as cutdowns happen.

LB

Quay Walker is the real deal. In just two defensive series, he totaled five tackles. He showed off his sideline to sideline speed and sure tackling. At one point, he closed quickly on Chiefs RB Jerick McKinnon to force a punt. After the game, LaFleur stated "He is far from a finished product, but I think the guy takes unbelievable mental reps every single play." His arrow is certainly trending upward.

📷 Evan Siegle | Packers.com

CB/S

The play of the secondary was fairly average. Any thought that Rico Gafford could earn a spot on the roster because of his speed on special teams and potential on defense has been dashed. He looked out of place throughout the game and gave up two catches that I can note. There were several miscues and mistakes by the secondary, most notably when Gafford and Tariq Carpenter left Chiefs TE Matt Bushman wide open on a TD catch and run for 54 yards. I observed several plays when the CBs were playing soft coverage and lining up nearly 10 yards off of the receiver. Behind starters Jaire Alexander, Eric Stokes, Rasul Douglas, Adrian Amos, and Darnell Savage, there are likely three or four positions available. It will be interesting to see which players stick around on the 53.

ST

Special teams continues to be a thorn in the side for the Packers organization. Through three preseason games, I was hoping to see more stability, reliability, and success of the special teams units. However, miscues and missed tackles continue to reign supreme. The Packers first punt resulted in a return of 37 yards. Gunners on kick coverage and punt coverage were not seeming to make it down the field quickly enough to contain the returner. When they were able to and had a good opportunity to make a tackle, it seemed like the runner was able to run right through arm tackles. On the other hand, punter Pat O'Donnell had himself a night. He hit several booming punts and showcased both his leg strength and hangtime. One punt hung in the air for just over five seconds and also traveled 70 yards downfield. K Ramiz Ahmed also played well, finishing with a 23-yard field goal and a PAT.

📷 Evan Siegle | Packers.com

📈 Trending Up

RB Tyler Goodson

WR Amari Rodgers

WR Samori Toure

OL Rasheed Walker

OL Zach Tom

DL Chris Slayton

DL Jack Heflin

ILB Quay Walker

P Pat O’Donnell

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Tariq Carpenter

Rico Gafford

ST Units

Refs (several missed blatant penalties)

I do not envy the organization and the decisions that they will make in the coming days. All I know is this — for a team with a sky-high aspiration of winning the Super Bowl, retaining certain players is going to be the key to actually having a shot of making it there. In the meantime, Tuesday cannot come soon enough...